§ Sir G. Foxasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that in certain districts agricultural workers are being requisitioned for Government work of a kind with which they are often unfamiliar; that they are receiving wages in excess of their normal wages and that these wages are provided by the employing contractor who receives a commission on this amount from the Government, and whether he can give an assurance that adequate supervision will be exercised over such contractors to ensure that there is no unnecessary expenditure of public money?
§ Captain CrookshankAs regards the first part of the question, there are no powers to requisition labour for any Government work. As regards the second part, I am aware that the rates of wages payable in industry are often in excess of agricultural wages, but I would say that, apart from a few exceptional cases of a minor character, no Government contracts at present extant provide that the contractor's remuneration should take the form of prime costs plus a percentage on these costs. As regards the third part, it is the normal rule that Government supervision should be provided in the case of all prime cost contracts.